Magpies Are Smarter Than You Think

It can be somewhat unsettling to realize that an animal you may think of as a literal birdbrain is, at least within a particular environment or framework, a little smarter than you realized or maybe even a little smarter than you. 

I wasn't surprised that an animal was able to figure out how to remove a foreign object placed upon it. 

Anyone who's ever watched a dog remove an unwanted collar or cone won't be amazed by that. I was intrigued that not only was a Magpie able to remove the tracking device but also that a Magpie was somehow able to communicate its distress to others of its kind who were interested enough to stop whatever they were doing and assist their brother or sister in precisely the method required.

The Australian magpie is one of the cleverest birds on earth. It has a beautiful song of extraordinary complexity. It can recognize and remember up to 30 different human faces. In 2019 Dominique Potvin, an animal ecologist at University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, set out to study magpie social behavior. 

She and her team spent around six months perfecting a harness that would carry miniature tracking devices in a way that was unintrusive for magpies. They believed it would be nearly impossible for magpies to remove the harnesses from their own bodies. “The first tracker was off half an hour after we put it on,” she said.

“We were literally packing up our gear and watching it happen.” In a remarkable act of cooperation, the magpie wearing the tracker remained still while the other magpie worked at the harness with its beak. 

Within 20 minutes, the helping magpie had found the only weak point — a single clasp, barely a millimeter long — and snipped it with its beak. Dr. Potvin and her team later saw different magpies removing harnesses from two other birds outfitted with them. The scientists took six months to reach this point. Within three days, the magpies had removed all five devices. LINK

But apparently no one should be surprised. Magpies are part of the corvid family (this includes crows and ravens) and are considered to be among the smartest animals on the planet. Their brain to body weight ratio is just below that of humans. As we learn more about bird intelligence and the brain power of many other animals perhaps we will consider new ways to live in harmony with such creatures and not heedlessly destroy their environments or kill them for amusement.